Intro to GAPS diet- Day 1

Yes, I did it.  I took the plunge!  I'm on day 1 of my Intro to GAPS diet.  For those of you who have never heard of GAPS, it stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome.  I describe the Intro to GAPS diet more HERE.  The purpose of doing GAPS is to help heal the gut, which will prevent toxins and other unwanted things from entering the bloodstream and causing all sorts of problems (GAPS basic info HERE).

I ordered a 30-day meal plan for my GAPS Intro diet from http://www.healthhomehappy.com/, and I'm really glad to have found something all laid out for me to use.  The diet is a HUGE change, and this takes helps make it less overwhelming.  HERE is a sample of the meal plan I'm following.  It's great because it tells you what cooking equipment you'll need, gives you a shopping list, and even tells you what to tell friends, family, and others about your diet (because people will think you're crazy!).

I made my chicken broth yesterday, and had one huge pot taking two burners, and then two other pots on the stove the entire day.  It smelled really good, but I wasn't so sure how it would taste.  I didn't know if I diluted it too much.  Last night I put the broth into jars, and I ended up with a lot!

This should last me quite a while!  I used the plastic container of broth today for my butternut squash soup (probably not BPA free... I ran out of jars, though!).  I'm going to freeze most of it, and left extra room at the top of the jars for it to expand in the freezer.

My menu for today (any order):  Intro Butternut Squash Soup, Boiled Broccoli, Sweet Onions, Chicken Meat with Soup.

I made the butternut squash soup this morning by simmering 4 cups of butternut squash in 2 qts of chicken broth and 1 qt of water.  I also added one tablespoon of Real salt.

It didn't look very good at first, but when the squash was soft I blended the soup up in my Vitamix, and it looked creamy and smooth.

It was a bit thin, but when I took a bite..... Heavenly!  SO GOOD.  Unbelievably good.  I am surprised that something so simple could be so good.  If everything I eat the next month tastes so good I shouldn't have any trouble.  You can do anything for a month, right?

And remember, this diet has six stages.  In this first stage the diet is very basic, and then we add more & more variety at each stage change.  If all goes well I'll be on each stage for 3-4 days.

I decided to wait on the magnesium.  I read a blog post where someone was supplementing on magnesium and had a crazy reaction to it- they got so tired they had to immediately go to bed & they were groggy and incoherent.  I decided to wait until dinner, closer to bed time.  But then I read somewhere else that magnesium can mess with your sleep, so not to take it after 5 pm until you know how it will affect you.  That made me nervous, so I think I'll wait for a while.  On this GAPS intro all my foods are soft anyway, so it won't be an issue for me.

One thing I haven't found any information on is if there is anything wrong with heavy exercise while you're doing this program.  I'll have to play it by ear.  If I start feeling too wiped out I might have to ease off on the strength training for awhile.